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If you’re into social media like Facebook and Twitter (and really who isn’t these days?) then you should know about the newest thing: Social TV.

Social TV is yet another buzzword that’s becoming popular within the interactive TV community. As an analyst, I’m somewhat responsible since I also speak a lot about Social TV and how it can change TV viewing forever.

The Living Room of Yesteryear

So what is Social TV? Simply put, it’s about connecting your social media networks to the TV.  It’s making TV social–again.

Remember the old days when families used to sit together at night and watch TV together? When I was a kid, I remember that Sunday nights were especially fun since my entire family would crowd around the living room and watch The Wonderful World of Disney.  It was a great family night.

Today, things are a bit different. There’s a TV in almost every room of the house. Parents and kids don’t usually watch kids together. Your phone, is also a TV. And kids are more likely to watch TV on their computers rather than on actual TV sets.

Many consumers are also watching TV with their laptops. They can look up facts, read actor bios, schedule a DVR recording, post something on Twitter, or just read the latest news about your favorite shows. Now, imagine being able to do all these things on the TV itself.

Already, Verizon’s FiOS TV has Twitter and Facebook so consumers can tweet about their favorite shows, or read other people’s updates. While it’s not a full implementation of Twitter or Facebook, it’s a start.

Verizon was the first pay-TV operator  in the world to offer Social TV. Now, other providers are doing this, most recently France Telecom, and AT&T. In addition, Microsoft is getting involved via its Xbox 360, which recently unveiled Twitter and Facebook for Xbox Live users.

So what can you do with Social TV?

• Get Content Recommendations From Friends and Family. This may be the best thing about Social TV. Getting recommendations from your trusted friends and family means you are more likely to watch a TV show. With some services, you can even send a gift of a TV show or movie to your friend.

• Chatting and Interacting with Friends. Social TV brings back the idea of connecting socially with friends while watching TV. That usually means text chat, but some services allow you to use voice or even video chat at the same time.

• Searching for Popular or Related TV Shows. With many Social TV services, you can search for the most popular content that’s on right now. Or you can see what’s popular among your friends and family. You can invite others to watch what you’re watching or just find shows that you might like to watch or record.

And these are just some current examples.

Social TV is usually a multi-screen experience. Meaning you’ll have to use a combination of a TV and a smartphone. Or a TV and a PC. (Of course the iPad also fits the bill here.)  In the future, more Social TV will be done just with a TV screen, and better input devices like a keyboard or pointer.

Why is Social TV important? Because social media will bring together the TV and the digital world. People already use their TV’s socially: they either watch it together as a family, or watch a show separately but talk about them together at a later time. So Social TV is about bringing real-time interactivity back to TV, which has been lacking in recent years.

One last word: Social TV isn’t for everyone. It’s definitely a generational thing. Younger kids are more apt to take to Social TV than adults, simply because they are used to multitasking or chatting with friends socially.  With many activities, there are ways to shut down social TV, and just do something really simple: watch TV with no distractions.

(picture courtesy of ralphbijker)